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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

早夏青龙寺致斋凭眺感物因书十四韵

Early Summer at Qinglong Temple: Fasting and Gazing Afar, Moved by the Scene, Written in Fourteen Rhymes

权德舆

Quan Deyu

登临ascending and gazing 怀古meditating on the past 禅寺Zen temple 感怀reflections

晓出文昌宫，憩兹青莲宇。
洁斋奉明祀，凭览伤夐古。
秦为三月火，汉乃一抔土。
诈力自湮沦，霸仪终莽卤。
中南横峻极，积翠泄云雨。
首夏谅清和，芳阴接场圃。
仁祠閟严净，稽首洗灵府。
虚室僧正禅，危梁燕初乳。
通庄走声利，结驷乃旁午。
观化复何如，刳心信为愈。
盛时忽过量，弱质本无取。
静永环中枢，益愧腰下组。
尘劳期抖擞，陟降聊俯偻。
遗韵留壁间，凄然感东武。

At dawn I leave the Palace of Civil Brilliance and rest in this Blue-Lotus sanctuary.
Purified and fasting, I serve the bright sacrifice; gazing out, I mourn the remoteness of antiquity.
The Qin became the fire of three months; the Han but a handful of earth.
Force and fraud sank into oblivion; the ritual pomp ended in rough neglect.
The central south rises in extreme steepness; accumulated green vents cloud and rain.
Early summer, I trust, is clear and mild; fragrant shade joins the fields and gardens.
The benevolent shrine is closed in solemn purity; I bow my head and wash my spirit-firm.
The empty room, the monk sits in right meditation; on the high beam the swallow first feeds her young.
The throughfare runs with fame and gain; carriages four-in-hand come and go in crosswise throng.
How is it to observe transformation? Scooping out the heart, I trust, is the better.
In flourishing times I suddenly passed the measure; this weak frame originally took nothing.
Still and eternal, I circle the central pivot; the more I shame the ribbon at my waist.
I look to shake off the dust-toil; ascending and descending, I bow and stoop.
A lingering rhyme remains on the wall; mournfully I am moved by Dongwu.

Listen

Meaning

Quan Deyu leaves the secretariat at dawn to fast at Qinglong Temple, then gazes out and mourns antiquity. He reflects that the Qin's fires and the Han's mounds are both gone, while force and pomp ended in oblivion. Amid the temple's meditation and a swallow feeding her young, he contrasts the world's rush for fame with the better way of emptying the heart. Closing with a lingering wall-inscription, he feels a mournful bond with the past—a mid-Tang literatus tempering worldly duty with Buddhist and Zhuangist insight.

清晨离开尚书省署,歇息在这佛寺的青莲宝宇之中。秦朝宫殿毁于三月不灭的大火,汉朝陵阙也只剩下一抔残土。空寂的禅室中僧人正在入定,高处的梁间燕子衔泥喂养初生的雏燕。前人的题咏遗韵还留在寺壁之间,我凄然怀想起东武那样的旧游往事。

Appreciation

A pentasyllabic pailü of fourteen rhymes and twenty-eight lines, yet tightly structured. It opens with narration, sets the tone in 'gazing out, I mourn antiquity'; 'The Qin became the fire of three months; the Han but a handful of earth' condenses Qin-Han rise and fall in ten characters; 'The empty room, the monk sits in meditation; on the high beam the swallow first feeds' sets stillness against motion, Chan quiet against vitality; the thoroughfare's fame-gain contrasts the temple's emptiness; it closes with 'A lingering rhyme remains on the wall; mournfully I am moved by Dongwu,' past and present interpenetrating, feeling faint and far. The whole fuses travel-duty, elegy, and observation of change into one—typical of mid-Tang literati tempering affairs with Buddhism and Daoism.

【白话串讲】权德舆在青龙寺斋戒，凭眺感怀：“晓出文昌宫，憩兹青莲宇”。“秦为三月火，汉乃一抔土”——“中南横峻极，积翠泄云雨”——他写长安的古今。【意象与手法】此诗为五言排律,十四韵二十八句,章法严整。起笔纪事,「凭览伤夐古」立定基调;「秦为三月火,汉乃一抔土」十个字写尽秦汉兴亡;「虚室僧正禅,危梁燕初乳」一静一动,禅境与生机互为映照;「通庄走声利」与寺中虚静对照;末以「遗韵留壁间,凄然感东武」收束,古今互摄,余情渺渺。【情感与主旨】此诗写权德舆晓出省署、斋于青龙寺、凭眺感古的完整过程。由秦火汉土的遗迹感怀兴亡,以庄禅之学观照世务:刳心观化、尘劳抖擞,把历史之悲消化为清静自新之悟。僧禅燕乳之间,见对生生之机的体认;遗韵东武之际,寓人事代谢的凄然。全诗融行役、凭吊、观化于一炉,是中唐士大夫以佛老调剂世务心态的典型写照。【名句点睛】「秦为三月火,汉乃一抔土」:三月火写秦之暴虐速亡,一抔土写汉之赫赫终墟,两语对举,千载霸业缩于一瞬。不用僻典,专以数量词状其速朽,冷峻的对照令人凛然,是排律中以简驭繁的典范句法。

Background

Qinglong Temple stood in Xinchang ward inside the Yanxing Gate of Chang'an's east, north against the Leyou Plateau, a famous Tang monastery, built in the Longshuo era of Gaozong, an important Esoteric-Buddhist site in mid-late Tang where the monk Huiguo taught and Japanese monks like Kukai studied; perched high, poets often climbed and gazed. Quan Deyu, styled Zizhi, from Lueyang in Tianshui, rose from remonstrance official to Secretariat Drafter in the Zhenyuan era, controlled the exams, and was regarded as a literary leader; in Yuanhe 5 he became chancellor, later Regional Commander of Shannan West. The title 'Early Summer at Qinglong Temple: fasting and gazing, moved by things, written in fourteen rhymes'—'fasting' means ritual purification before sacrifice; Tang officials had to fast on the eve of sacrifices; 'Palace of Civil Brilliance' is the Secretariat; 'Blue-Lotus sanctuary' a metaphor for the Buddhist temple; the poem writes the full process of leaving the secretariat at dawn, fasting in the temple, and gazing out to mourn antiquity. 'The Qin became the fire of three months; the Han but a handful of earth' mourns rise and fall from the Qin gardens and Han tombs on the Leyou Plateau; 'The benevolent shrine is closed in solemn purity; I bow my head and wash my spirit-firm' writes Buddhist cultivation washing the mind. The whole fuses travel-duty, elegy, and observation of change—a work of Zhenyuan literati tempering affairs with Zhuang and Buddha. Quan Deyu, at the end of Zhenyuan, controlled the literary arena and examined Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan and others, meritorious in the turn of mid-Tang prose and poetic style; this Qinglong Temple gazing piece, with both the dignity of court and the ease of mountain-forest, is exactly the record of his life between secretariat and Zen-joy, while the Qin-Han ruins on Leyou Plateau gave him the nearest ground for mourning the past.

青龙寺在长安城东延兴门内新昌坊,北枕乐游原,是唐代长安名刹,高宗龙朔年间始建,中晚唐时为密宗重要道场,惠果阿阇梨驻锡于此,日本空海等入唐求法皆曾依止,寺居高敞,诗人每登临凭眺。权德舆字载之,天水略阳人,贞元间由谏官累迁中书舍人,知制诰,掌贡举,一时文士多出其门,被目为文坛宗主,宪宗元和五年拜相,后出为山南西道节度使。此诗题曰早夏青龙寺致斋凭眺感物因书十四韵,致斋指斋戒祭祀,唐代官署于祀日前须致斋,文昌宫即尚书省,青莲宇喻佛寺,诗写晓出省署、斋于寺中、凭眺伤古的完整过程。诗中秦为三月火,汉乃一抔土,由眼前乐游原秦苑汉陵遗迹感怀兴亡,是对秦汉长安盛衰的凭吊;仁祠閟严净,稽首洗灵府,则写佛门修持对心志的洗涤。全诗融行役、凭吊、观化于一炉,是贞元文士以庄佛之学调剂世务之作。权德舆行实见《旧唐书》卷一四八本传及《新唐书·权德舆传》,长安寺观地理可参宋敏求《长安志》卷八新昌坊条。又按,权德舆于贞元末掌文柄,先后知贡举数榜,奖掖韩愈、柳宗元诸人,于中唐古文与诗风之转折厥功甚伟;青龙寺凭眺之作,兼有台阁之庄与山林之逸,正是其出入省寺、心系禅悦的生涯写照,而乐游原上秦汉遗迹,则为其感古伤今提供了最切近的凭据。

Art

A pentasyllabic pailü of fourteen rhymes and twenty-eight lines, grand in scale yet extremely tight in structure. The opening four lines—'At dawn I leave the Palace of Civil Brilliance and rest in this Blue-Lotus sanctuary. Purified and fasting, I serve the bright sacrifice; gazing out, I mourn the remoteness of antiquity'—narrate and set time, place, persons, the four characters 'gazing out, I mourn antiquity' fixing the whole tone. 'The Qin became the fire of three months; the Han but a handful of earth. Force and fraud sank into oblivion; the ritual pomp ended in rough neglect' compress a thousand years of rise and fall into two images, force and pomp implying satire on the present. 'The central south rises in extreme steepness; accumulated green vents cloud and rain. Early summer, I trust, is clear and mild; fragrant shade joins the fields and gardens' turn to Zhongnan's color and the temple fields, from past to present, history to scene—the pailü's modern modulation. 'The benevolent shrine is closed in solemn purity; I bow my head and wash my spirit-firm. The empty room, the monk sits in right meditation; on the high beam the swallow first feeds her young' re-enter the temple, the swallow's feeding contrasting the monk's long meditation, stillness and motion shaping each other. 'The throughfare runs with fame and gain; carriages four-in-hand come and go in crosswise throng. How is it to observe transformation? Scooping out the heart, I trust, is the better' sweep open to Chang'an's fame-gain throng against the temple's emptiness, leading to the joy of emptying the heart. The following eight lines self-narrate weakness and unworthiness, shame at the ribbon, wishing to shake off dust-toil and stoop in self-examination, closing with 'A lingering rhyme remains on the wall; mournfully I am moved by Dongwu,' ending in faint feeling. The whole interweaves time-space, past and present, scene, argument, and feeling—pailü at this level is truly a mid-Tang master's hand.

此诗为五言排律,十四韵二十八句,规模宏大,章法却极严整。起四句晓出文昌宫,憩兹青莲宇,洁斋奉明祀,凭览伤夐古,以纪事开篇,点明时地人事,凭览伤古四字立定全篇基调。秦为三月火,汉乃一抔土,诈力自湮沦,霸仪终莽卤,四句以秦火汉土互文见义,将千载兴亡压缩为两个意象,笔力千钧;诈力、霸仪的对举,明写秦汉得失,暗寓对当世的讽诫。中南横峻极,积翠泄云雨,首夏谅清和,芳阴接场圃,四句转写终南山色与寺外田圃,由古及今、由史入景,是排律中的顿挫。仁祠閟严净,稽首洗灵府,虚室僧正禅,危梁燕初乳,再入寺中,以燕乳初引反衬僧禅之久,动静相形。通庄走声利,结驷乃旁午,观化复何如,刳心信为愈,一笔荡开,写长安通衢的声利奔竞,与寺中虚静对照,引出刳心观化的归趣。此后八句自叙衰老无取、愧对簪组,愿以抖擞尘劳、俯偻省身自处,末以遗韵留壁间,凄然感东武收束,以壁上题咏与东武之感作结,余情渺渺。全诗时空交错,古今互摄,写景、议论、抒情熔于一炉,排律能作到此境地,洵为中唐大家手笔。又此诗三十八句而章法井井,自出寺、凭眺、感古、观化、自省以至结穴,一路以意运笔,中间中南山水、田圃僧禅、通衢车马诸景,如屏风四展,而一线相贯,是排律章法中的大手笔,其体制之宏,非短章所能限。

Allusions

'Fire of three months' comes from Shiji's 'Xiangyu Biography'—Xiang Yu massacred Xianyang and burned Qin palaces, the fire not extinguished for three months—used for Qin's swift ruin. 'A handful of earth' comes from Shiji's 'Zhang Shizhi Feng Tang Biography'—Zhang tells Emperor Wen that if a commoner took a handful of earth from the Changling tomb, how would Your Majesty punish him?—originally meaning a tomb's mound; the poet uses it to say the Han tombs too are but a handful of earth, set against Qin's fire, glory and decay both void. 'Force and fraud' appears in Shiji's 'Qin Shi Huang Biography'—the Grand Historian says Qin's rule did not follow antiquity but applied force and fraud; 'ritual pomp' means Qin's hegemonic majesty; 'rough neglect' means coarse and neglected. 'Carriages four-in-hand' comes from Shiji's 'Biographies of Merchants'—'carriages four-in-hand, riders in line'; 'crosswise throng' means crisscross, coming and going, from Hanshu's 'Huo Guang Biography.' 'Observe transformation' is from Zhuangzi's 'De Chong Fu' and 'Zhi Le'—observing the transformation of all things, a key Zhuangist idea. 'Scooping out the heart' comes from Zhuangzi's 'Shan Mu' and 'Ying Di Wang'—scooping out the heart to wash it, empty and await. 'Spirit-firm' comes from Zhuangzi's 'De Chong Fu'—'must not enter the spirit-firm,' meaning the mind's dwelling. The allusions mostly draw on Shiji and Zhuangzi, common to mid-Tang literati, yet fused without trace, merged with scene and mood—a master of using allusion.

三月火典出《史记·项羽本纪》,项羽引兵西屠咸阳,烧秦宫室,火三月不灭,诗人用以写秦之速亡。一抔土典出《史记·张释之冯唐列传》,张释之对文帝言假如愚民取长陵一抔土,陛下何以加其法乎,原指陵墓封土,诗人借以言汉室陵阙亦仅存一抔残土,与秦火对举,盛衰俱空。诈力见《史记·秦始皇本纪》太史公称秦政不师古而施于诈力,霸仪则指秦之霸业威仪,莽卤即粗疏荒忽之意。结驷典出《史记·货殖列传》结驷连骑,形容贵者车马之盛,旁午则言纵横交错、纷至沓来,语见《汉书·霍光传》。观化本《庄子·德充符》吾与夫子游十九年矣,而未尝知吾兀者也……又《庄子·至乐》察其始而本无生,观其化而化及我,观化即观照万物之迁化,属庄学要义。刳心出《庄子·山木》吾愿去君之累,除君之忧,而独与道游于大莫之国,刳心以洗,虚而待之,又见《庄子·应帝王》刳心于虚。灵府出《庄子·德充符》不可入于灵府,指心性之府。诸典多取《史记》《庄子》,皆中唐士人所常习,然诗人熔铸无痕,典故与景物、心境浑化一体,是善用事者。典源参《史记》(中华书局点校本)、《庄子》郭象注本。又庄子语之入诗,中唐已然成风,而权氏此诗用之尤为妥帖,观化、刳心、灵府诸语,皆取庄书而赋以佛寺语境,庄禅互发,正是贞元士大夫融合释道的时代思潮在诗中的投影,典故意蕴因之更见深长。

Commentary

Quan Deyu was a mid-Tang literary leader, controlling the exams for over ten years and recommending many juniors; the Old Tang History says that from Zhenyuan to Yuanhe he solely held the literary authority, his talent and name deferred to by his generation, and that his writing was elegant, correct, and broad, a master-artisan of the age. Han Yu's 'Epitaph for the Late Chancellor Quan' also praises his person and writing, saying his prose was pure in moral principle, his words quintessentially refined—a contemporary great Confucian's settled judgment. The Siku Quanshu catalog calls his writing level, correct, mellow, and elegant, versed in classics and histories, and his poetry also composed, leisurely, and elegant with a courtly air. Modern scholar Jiang Yin's studies of Da-li poets detail Quan's pivotal role in the Zhenyuan later-stage poetic world, viewing him as the transition between Da-li and Yuanhe styles; this poem shows exactly his typical manner of fusing allusion with Zhuang-Buddhist observation of affairs. Some critics say Quan wrote many occasional and congratulatory pieces, yet such climbing-and-moved-by-things works are deep in thought and precise in scene, enough to correct the impression of him as merely a cabinet poet.

权德舆为中唐文坛领袖,掌贡举十余年,奖拔后进甚众,《旧唐书》本传称其自贞元至元和,专掌文柄,才名自时辈推许,言无不从,又谓其文雅正而弘博,在贞元、元和间为一代宗匠。韩愈《唐故相权公墓碑》亦盛称其为人与文,谓公所为文,纯于义理,粹然其言,是同时大儒的定评。《四库全书总目·权文公集提要》称其文平正醇雅,出入经史,而诗亦雍容闲雅,有台阁之风。今人蒋寅《大历诗人研究》及《权德舆与贞元后期的诗坛》(刊于《文学遗产》)对权氏于贞元文坛的枢纽作用考论甚详,谓其为大历至元和之间诗风流变的承转人物,此诗正可见其熔铸典实、以庄禅观照世务的典型风貌。论者或谓权诗应制酬赠之作为多,然此类登临感物之作,思致深沉,写景精切,足以矫正其徒以馆阁台阁为工的印象。又《旧唐书》本传谓其于贞元元和间专掌文柄,才名擅时,此诗气象正与其文坛地位相称;今人研治大历诗风者,亦多以权氏为承转枢纽,其诗之庄重与思致,于唐人排律中别具一格,未可以馆阁诗一概视之。

Prosody

Form Pentasyllabic pailü (regulated verse with many couplets)五言排律

Rhyme Ping-shui rhyme, rising-tone 'yu' rhyme (sanctuary, antiquity, earth, neglect, rain, gardens, firm, young, throng, better, take, ribbon, stoop, Wu), one rhyme throughout.平水韵上声七麌(宇、古、土、卤、雨、圃、府、乳、午、愈、取、组、偻、武)

Tone pattern First line does not take a rhyme; the whole poem carries one rhyme throughout, with all middle couplets antithetical.首句不入韵,全诗一韵到底,中联尽对

Reading note This is a pentasyllabic pailü of fourteen rhymes and twenty-eight lines, rhyming with the Ping-shui rising-tone 'yu' rhyme—sanctuary, antiquity, earth, neglect, rain, gardens, firm, young, throng, better, take, ribbon, stoop, Wu, fourteen words one rhyme throughout, no change. The choice of an oblique (rising) rhyme makes the whole sound low, repressed, and knit, suiting the content of mourning the past and reflecting on life. The pailü form requires that all couplets except the first and last be antithetical; from 'The Qin became the fire of three months' down, twelve couplets are all tightly paired—'fire of three months' against 'handful of earth,' 'force and fraud' against 'ritual pomp,' 'rises in extreme steepness' against 'vents cloud and rain,' 'closed in solemn purity' against 'wash my spirit-firm,' 'runs with fame and gain' against 'come and go in crosswise throng'—precise and vigorous yet vitally connected, without the stiffness pailü easily falls into. In level-oblique, every line fits the regulated pattern; 'The empty room, the monk sits in right meditation' has 'empty room' oblique-oblique, 'monk' and 'meditation' level saving each other—a common pailü defiant-saving handling adding cadence. The closing 'A lingering rhyme remains on the wall; mournfully I am moved by Dongwu' ends on oblique-oblique-level-oblique-level, oblique-level-oblique-level, long and endless in tone, a fine use of the tail couplet. The difficulty of pailü lies in dense antithesis without stagnant breath; this twenty-eight-line poem never slackens—the precise pairing of Qin-fire and Han-earth, the ethereal scene of pine-color and Zen-light, all show flow within density, beyond the mere regulation-maker—thus a model of Tang pailü.此诗为五言排律,共十四韵二十八句,押平水韵上声七麌,宇、古、土、卤、雨、圃、府、乳、午、愈、取、组、偻、武十四字一韵到底,中间无换韵。仄声韵的选用,使全诗声情低回郁结,与凭吊兴亡、观照身世的内容相称。排律体格要求除首尾二联外,各联均须对仗,此诗自秦为三月火以下十二联,联联工对,三月火对一抔土、诈力对霸仪、横峻极对泄云雨、閟严净对洗灵府、走声利对乃旁午,属对精严而气脉贯注,毫无排律易犯的板滞之病。平仄方面,通篇皆合律句,虚室僧正禅一句作平仄平仄平,正字拗而僧、禅平声相救,是排律中常见的拗救处理,读来更增顿挫。末联遗韵留壁间,凄然感东武,以仄仄平仄平、平平仄平仄收束,声调悠长,余韵不尽,是排律声律中善用尾联的一例。又排律之难,在对仗密而气不滞,此诗二十八句无一句懈,秦火汉土之属对精严,松色禅光之写景空灵,皆于密丽中见流动,非深于律者不能作,故其为唐代排律中的典范之作。

Line by line

晓出文昌宫，憩兹青莲宇。

At dawn I leave the Palace of Civil Brilliance and rest in this Blue-Lotus sanctuary.

清晨离开尚书省署,歇息在这佛寺的青莲宝宇之中。

At dawn I leave the Wenchang palace, and rest in this blue-lotus temple.

两句以对起之笔交代行止,文昌宫与青莲宇、晓出与憩兹两两相对,从官署到佛寺的空间转换,正是全诗由世务到观化的转场。晓字见其勤于职事,憩字则启下文凭眺,用词典雅而气度从容,是台阁诗人排律开篇的典型路数,然其清峻之气已先自定调。起笔两句言省署与佛寺,已暗含世法与出世法之对照,晓出、憩兹,一忙一闲,全篇的去就取舍,即从此处生根,是排律开篇以对起藏议论的佳例。

These two lines open in parallel, naming the movements: Wenchang Palace and blue-lotus temple, dawn-depart and rest-here two-two parallel; from office to temple's space conversion, precisely the whole poem's transition from world-affairs to observing-change. Dawn shows his diligence in duty; rest then opens the later gazing-broadly, diction elegant and air composed, the secretariat-poet's regulated-long-poem opening typical path, yet its clear-steep air already self-setting-tone. The opening two lines speak office and temple, already secretly holding worldly-law-and-transcendent-law contrast; dawn-depart, rest-here, one busy one idle, the whole piece's going-or-stay choice takes root here - the regulated-long-poem's opening parallel-hiding-argument fine example.

秦为三月火，汉乃一抔土。

The Qin became the fire of three months; the Han but a handful of earth.

秦朝宫殿毁于三月不灭的大火,汉朝陵阙也只剩下一抔残土。

Qin perished in a three-month fire; Han remains but a handful of earth.

此联是全诗思力所萃,只以十个字写尽秦汉兴亡。三月火见其暴虐之速亡,一抔土见其赫赫之终墟,秦火汉土互文成义,千载霸业缩于一瞬。对仗精严而气脉雄浑,不复馆阁应酬的浮靡,直逼咏史正体,是排律中以简驭繁的典范句法。此联之警,不在用事之熟,而在对照之冷,三月火与一抔土,皆以数量词状其速亡速朽,历史之荒诞与人生之须臾,尽在这冷峻的对举之中,读之令人凛然。

This couplet is the whole poem's thought-force concentration, using only ten characters to exhaust Qin-Han rise-and-fall. Three-month fire sees the tyrant's swift collapse; handful of earth sees the august final ruin; Qin fire Han earth互文成义, the thousand-year hegemony shrunk to an instant. Parallel refined yet breath grand, no longer the office-hall entertainment's gaudiness, directly approaching the historical-poem proper; the regulated-long-poem's simplicity-controls-complexity model syntax. This couplet's alertness lies not in allusion-familiarity, but in the contrast's coldness; three-month-fire and handful-of-earth both use quantity words to shape their swift-ruin, swift-decay; history's absurdity and life's momentariness all within this cold juxtaposition, reading it makes one stand in awe.

虚室僧正禅，危梁燕初乳。

The empty room, the monk sits in right meditation; on the high beam the swallow first feeds her young.

空寂的禅室中僧人正在入定,高处的梁间燕子衔泥喂养初生的雏燕。

In the empty room the monk is just in Zen; on the high beam swallows are feeding young.

一静一动,一空一实,僧之入定与燕之哺乳并置,禅的永恒与生命的时序互为映照。虚室二字兼用《庄子》虚室生白的意象,危梁燕乳则添一线人间生意,两景相激,使佛寺不流于枯寂,而于静中见生生不息之机,是排律对句善于取影处。僧之禅定是超时间的静,燕之哺雏是时间中的动,两景相映,禅境不枯而生意不喧,是写佛寺最难得的火候,虚室二字更兼用庄义,使此联于佛典外别有玄学意味。

One stillness one motion, one void one solid; the monk's meditation and the swallow's nursing placed side by side, Zen's eternity and life's season mutually reflecting. Empty room two characters at once uses Zhuangzi's empty-room-begets-light image; high beam swallows' nursing adds a thread of human life; two scenes mutually stirring, making the temple not fall into dry stillness, yet within stillness seeing ceaseless life-growth; the regulated-long-poem's couplet's skill at catching shadows. The monk's Zen-meditation is the beyond-time stillness; the swallow's chick-nursing is motion within time; two scenes reflecting each other, the Zen realm not dry yet life's growth not clamorous; writing temples' rarest fire. Empty room two characters additionally uses Zhuang meaning, making this couplet beyond Buddhist scripture hold metaphysical meaning.

遗韵留壁间，凄然感东武。

A lingering rhyme remains on the wall; mournfully I am moved by Dongwu.

前人的题咏遗韵还留在寺壁之间,我凄然怀想起东武那样的旧游往事。

Traces of old verse remain on the wall; sadly I recall my old journeys.

结句由眼前转入追怀,遗韵指壁上前人题诗,东武则或指诗人旧日行迹或故人所在,着凄然二字,全诗的凭吊之情于此收拢。写古迹而落脚在人事代谢,与首联凭览伤夐古遥相呼应,章法浑成,余韵袅袅,是排律结穴的有力一笔。结语不写凭吊之泪,而写壁间遗韵,以旧题之存亡托人事之代谢,凄然二字轻轻一点,全篇感古之意至此收拢,笔致含蓄,正是排律善用尾联藏锋的妙处。

The closing line turns from眼前 to recollection; traces-of-old-verse refers to wall-front predecessors' inscriptions; Dong Wu then may refer to the poet's old travels or old friends' dwelling; placing sadly two characters, the whole poem's mourning feeling here gathered. Writing ancient traces yet landing on human-affairs-alternation, echoing the opening couplet's gazing-at-the-ruins-mourning-the-remote-antiquity; craft浑然, aftertaste curling, the regulated-long-poem knot's forceful stroke. The closing words do not write mourning tears, but write wall-front traces; using the old inscription's survival-or-vanishing to entrust human-affairs-alternation; sadly two characters lightly tipped, the whole piece's antiquity-feeling here gathered; brush reserved, precisely the regulated-long-poem's closing-couplet-hiding-edge subtlety.

Study

Word focus

泄 In 'accumulated green vents cloud and rain,' the word 'vent' (xie) writes Zhongnan's accumulated green qi steaming forth into cloud and rain; with one 'vent,' the mountain's lushness turns from static to dynamic, as if the green itself had the power to release, moistening the fields. Paired with the previous 'rises' (horizontal) in 'rises in extreme steepness' as vertical-horizontal, it writes the mountain's body and vitality—a fine example of mid-Tang pailü scene-words. 积翠泄云雨的泄字,写终南山积翠之气蒸腾而出云雨,着一泄字,山的蓊郁便由静态转为动态,仿佛翠色本身具泄放之力,润泽郊野。与上句横峻极的横字一纵一横,写出山的体势与生机,两字炼得极响,是中唐排律写景句炼字的佳例。泄字本为水之下泻,移以写山气之蒸腾,积翠二字已见山之深秀,泄云雨则见其生机之浩荡,一字而山水之气韵全出,是中唐炼字善于移就的一例。

閟 In 'The benevolent shrine is closed in solemn purity,' the word 'closed' (bi) means shut, deep-hidden, writing the solemn atmosphere of the temple gate closed and halls secluded. 'Closed' not only writes spatial depth but also reveals the religious realm's separation from worldly dust, echoing the later 'I bow my head and wash my spirit-firm' entering stillness. Uncommon yet exactly apt here, it shows Quan Deyu's power of precise, non-obscure word-choice. 仁祠閟严净的閟字,作幽闭、深藏解,写出寺门深闭、殿宇森然的庄严气象。閟字不仅写空间的幽深,更透出宗教境界的隔绝尘俗,与下文稽首洗灵府的入静相呼应。此字不常见,用在此处却极贴切,见权德舆诗炼字而不落生僻的功力。閟字以幽深写寺门之气象,与严净二字相合,见其庄严;又閟有藏敛之义,暗合佛门敛光韬采之旨,一字双关,非精于释典者不易措手。

洗 In 'I bow my head and wash my spirit-firm,' the word 'wash' (xi) uses the concrete act of ablution to write the abstract cleansing of the spirit, making mental cultivation a palpable rite. 'Wash' follows the previous 'closed,' the temple's depth and the mind's purity isomorphic, and runs through with later 'scoop out the heart' and 'shake off'—together forming the poem's imagery-system of self-renewal through Zhuang-Buddhist learning; a key word running through the whole. 稽首洗灵府的洗字,以盥洗之具体动作写精神之涤除,使抽象的心性修养化为可感的仪式。洗字与上句閟字相承,寺境之深与心境之净同构,又与后文刳心、抖擞等语一脉贯通,共同构成全诗以庄佛之学自新的意象系统,是排律中一以贯之的关键字。洗字兼有盥涤与澄明两义,以稽首之礼而行洗心之功,身心俱净,是全诗由外而内的关键一转,此后观化、刳心诸语,皆由这一个洗字引出,可谓一字立骨。